Where There's Smoke
by SamaratinToSin
Summary: What do you do when you are tied to your worst enemy and 500 miles from home? Start walking that's what! I suck at summeries, but everyone does so it's ok
1. The Proposal

**Where there's Smoke. Chapter 1-The question and the begining of a problem.**

_Grace_

The tiara slid down and rested against Grace's ear. "What?" she said. More in disbelif than anything else.

Grace stood and stared at the engagement necklace. It had the silver heart on it from her bracelet that had broken in a fight with Lebba.

"Do I really have to repeat it? This is awkward enough for me as it is." Skipper stood up.

"This is just so.."

"Sudden?" Marlene asked falling out of a tree.

"Actually I knew it was coming." Grace answered trying not to laugh as Private fell out of the same tree and landed on his face.

"Evesdroppers!" Skipper demanded. "I worked really hard on this and you guys ruined it!"

Kowalski jumped out of the tree next, "It was ruined when you made me pretend to be Grace so you could practice!"

"Oh, you to?" Marlene put her hands on her hips. "He made me distract her all week!"

"Ok that's enough of what I did or didn't do." Skipper turned around and walked away, obviously embarrassed.

"Nice going." The wolf shot them a look and trotted after her life-long friend.

"Skipper, wait." She actually had to break into a run to catch up with him.

"What Grace? You know that I was nevous about it and-"

"I think it's really sweet." Grace finished for him.

"What? You do?" he stopped walking and gave me a hopeful look.

She nodded. "It shows that you care and stuff." Grace allowed Skipper to put the necklace around her neck.

"So, is that a yes?" Skipper still sounded hopeful

"Let's see how the next few months go, with the Agency and everything."

"Yeah. I get it." he seemed dissapointed.

"I didn't mean it like that." she quickly corrected.

"I said I get it!" Skipper snapped. He took off agian, jumping back into the zoo.

"Skipper!" she started to follow him, but stopped herself, not wanting to ruin any chance she had left.

"Wow." Private's british accent was almost torture to the already annoyed Grace.

"Private!" Marlene hissed. "Grace? Are you-"

"I'm fine." she sighed, "I should probably get back to the party.

Marlene followed Grace over the fence. "Grace?"

The brown wolf dropped her head and held her tail low, as she walked slowly back towards the lemur habitat.

**_MEANWHILE_**

Jay Robbers opened the door to the Central Park Zoo office. A red-haired zookeeper was just finishing her work.

"I heard you had a wolf here." Jay said.

"Yeah. What's it to you?" Alice answered, glaring at the new comer.

"I've come to take her off you hands. Let me explain, I'm part of a gold mining crew, we work deep in the Alaskan moutian forests. We use dog sleds to get to the mines-"

"Yeah yeah." Alice snapped "Would she come back?"

"Probably not." the man replied.

"Deal." Alice answered quickly. "Ever since she showed up, her and those penguins have been acting stranger than usual."

Mr. Robbers returned to his truck to get supplies_. This was my best idea ever._ he thought as he pulled two catch poles out.

Grace laid down in her exhibit and watched the sky.

"Ah, Grace, Happy birthday." a dark Gray wolf stepped into a section of light.

"Lebba." Grace growled.

The two wolves circled each other, growling.

Lebba lunged for Grace, Grace countered and began to fight back.

"What the-" Alice screamed upon seeing the two wolves. She grabbed a catch pole and easily captured the wolf she knew belonged to the zoo.

Grace yelped as a cable tightened around her neck. Lebba stepped back in shock.

Jay secured the other wolf before she had a chance to escape.

Marlene quickly ran to penguin HQ, she had to help Grace.

"Skipper!" she yelped, jumping down and into the room.

"What!" he rolled out of his bunk, narrowly avoiding landing on her.

"Grace is being transferred!" Marlene was gasping for breath at this point.

Skipper flew out of HQ and over to Grace's habitat. He spotted Alice and another man dragging Grace and Lebba away.

"Grace!" Skipper gave chase. He caught up just as Alice pushed Grace into a crate in the back of a truck. Skipper launched his attack, only to be hit with a stick and fall.

He jumped up just in time to see the truck pull away with Grace and Lebba in the back.

"Don't worry, Grace" Skipper sighed. "I will find you."

**What should Grace's answer be? Should she say Yes or No to Skipper? But first- Where is this new man taking Grace and Lebba? Will they survive? Can Grace possibly get home? Will Skipper find her? How will Kowalski react to Skrace? And what about Marlene? Why am I asking all of the questions to you when you don't know the answer?**


	2. The Leaving

**Sorry it took so long, I was working on my other story. I'm sorry about the mangling of the English language in this chapter.**

Grace blinked back into reality. "Ow my head." she whispered

The wolf struggled to stand up, feeling the smooth cold metal under her paws. "Where am I?" she quickly gasped, her eyes adjusted to the dark and she looked cautiosly around.

She was in a metal dog crate, surrounded by other crates in what appeared to be a plane.

"Your in the Team now." A gruff voice said next to her.

Grace startled and looked into the crate next to her. A large red husky was streached out looking up at her.

"Excuse me?" Grace swallowed her fear, something she was usually very good at.

"Your in the team." The dog picked up his head and Grace noticed her only had one eye.

"The what?"

"The team. The Races. Dog-Sled. Ya don't get out much do ya?"

"No, I'm a-"

"Wolf. Yea. We know. Sled Master picked ya and another wolf atta da zoo in the big city."

"A-a-anouther wolf?"

"City folk." The husky sighed. "Yea ya'll two were fightin' somethin' pretty fierce from what ah hear."

Grace could only place the other wolf as Lebba. But where was she?

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Fang."

"Like White Fang?"

"Alright, listen up, kid. I'm a desendent of the greats. I don't need city dogs like you coming in and ruining my team."

"Alright, now you listen up G-dog. I'm the top agent with ACIS. I am THE most popular wolf in the country. What I don't need is you coming in and telling me how to run my show. K?"

"Someone has control issues." Fang laid back down.

"And someone needs their ass kicked." Grace threw herself on the ground.

**_Central Park Zoo_**

"Skipper?" Marlene called into an empty HQ. "Guys? Hello?"

The otter walked further into the penguins lair.

"Marlene?" Skipper yelped. "I could have been naked in here!"

Marlen spun around, surprized to hear him. "What are you doing?" she asked.

Skipper shifted his weight, "Uh- I'm- Nothing."

Marlene raised her eyebrow.

"I'm going after Grace." he sighed.

"What? You don't even know where she went."

"No. But Kowalski has the cars licence plate code. And I'm meeting Bluea. So there. See?"

"But what about Alice?"

"What about Alice? I'm not taking her with me if that's what you want."

"Won't she notice your gone?"

"Marlene. She thinks there are three males and a female."

"You have a point."

"I've got a wolf to catch if you don't mind." Skipper started for the hatch.

"Wait up!" Marlene raced after him. "I'm going with you."

"No your not." Skipper put his flipper out to stop her. "This is not a mission for girls, let alone a mammal."

"Bluea's going. Bluea's a mammal. and female." Marlene pushed Skipper aside. "What's the difference between us?"

Skipper gave Marlene a very serious look, "Genetics."

"That is the by far the WORST excuse ever." Marlene climbed the ladder and felt the August air breeze through her fur.

"It's true." Skipper followed her out. "If you were related to Grace than I'd love to bring you along. But your not. And I can't."

Skipper dove into the water and jumped the fence.

Marlene followed suit. "Actually. Wolves are the ansestors of dogs. Dogs are distant cousins of badgers and, as we all know, otters and badgers are cousins. So there for. I am related to Grace."

"Damn I hate reason." Skipper sighed and shook his head. "Alright. But you have to be careful and do everything I say when I say it. As a saftey precaution."

Marlene smiled. "Ima go on a mission. Ima go ona mission. Ima go ona mission. Ima-"

"Oh dear. This is going to be a long mission." Skipper shook his head again and started towards the zoo gates, still listening to Marlene's 'mission song'.

**_Somewhere in Canada_**

Grace backed up and lunged again ramming the cage door with her head for the 5th time.

"Dude, Stop it." Lebba yawned. "Your giving me a headache."

"This is all your fault." Grace snapped.

"Yeah. I'm sure it is." the calico wolf sighed dreamily.

"I was at the top of my game! On my way to bigger and better things. Then you." Grace flung herself at the door again "Had to go." Again. "And screw." again "Everything" Again. "Up!" Again. Only this time, Grace slid down the bars and laid still.

Lebba watched as Grace slid slowly to the ground and didn't move. After about 5 minutes, the assassin grew restless. "Kvela?" she whispered.

"What!" Grace snapped.

"Just checking. Can't have you killing yourself now can I?" Lebba gentl closed her eyes.

"That would be tragic!" Grace said in a girly voice. "Because then... You wouldn't get a paycheck." she growled the last 5 words.

"It really would." Lebba taunted back.

Grace growled, but felt the plane land.

"Oh thank the maker!" Fang stood up. "Help! I've been contained with two psycho bitches for all of 30 minutes!"

Three men came around to the back of the plane. Grace regognised the man who had taken her and Lebba.

"Ive got two Louves here." The man said. "Picked 'em up at CPZ in New York."

"They look fine." a man with glasses leaned closer to Grace's cage. "She's a little roughed up though."

"They were fighting when I got there."

"Should clean up just fine. Make good team dogs."

"Did you not just hear me? They were fighing when I got there."

"How bout the Stocks. They'll either kill each other or get along."

"Fang." Lebba began. "What's the Stocks?"

"They tie two dogs together and make them sort out their problems." The old dog answered as Jace clipped his lead on.

"Fat chance." Grace and Lebba said at the same time.

"You'll get along." Fang called back to the wolves. "Or die trying." The husky muttered the last words to himself.

Jace's assisstant, Cliff, moved to put a leash on Lebba. She growled and backed away.

"Oh, Lebba. People won't hurt you." Grace stood up slowly.

"Yes they will." the wolf backed further away from the man.

"Ok, Ok." Cliff backed away. "I'll get your friend first." He closed Lebba's cage and turned to Grace.

"Come on." he clipped a leash to Grace's collar and led her from the plane.

Grace walked out onto the fresh snow. The wind rustled her fur.

There were rows of chainlink dog pens. Each containing two or three dogs. Suddenly, the plane with Lebba didn't look so bad.

Cliff lead Grace to a pen at the end of the row. "Stay here." he demanded.

"Oh yeah and while we're at it. You can hop down on all fours and pull the sled." Grace replied.

She paced back and forth trying to figure out how to get out.

"Relax." Lebba said, as Cliff and another man pushed her into the pen with Grace. "I talked to another dog. This is an adoption thing. The dogs that don't do well on the team get taken to the middle of the forest and dropped off. If they make it back then they are put up for adoption."

"I have to get out of here!" Grace growled "I have to get back to New York."

"I'm sure your pint-sized hero will come to your rescue." Lebba rolled her eyes and laid down in the corner.

"And I'm sure your boss will bail you out of this." Grace returrned.

"No. he won't. My hero won't come save me." Lebba picked her head up.

"Are you crying?" Grace tilted her head.

"No, I'm just not used to this snow. It reflects the light into my eyes." Lebba looked away.

All at once all the dogs started barking. "Take me! Take me! Please!"

"Here's your chance." Lebba sighed, standing up. "Just screw everything up and you'll be on your way."

Jace stopped at the kennel with the wolves in it. " Let's go, girls." he said.


	3. The Start of the Journey

**I know it's been awhile and I'm sorry if you have to go back and reread the first two chapters but it could be worse, you could be me. **

Grace considered following him out, but changed her mind.

Jace reached down and seized Grace by the back of the neck. "I said 'come on'" he yelled.

The brown wolf pulled against him as he drug her towards the sled.

Grace jumped desperatly away from the ropes.

"Calm down. You're going to hurt yourself." Fang chuckled as Cliff buckled him to the lead dog place.

Grace was about to respond when Lebba was drug over next. "I demand that you let me go! I am a trained assassin and I will come back and-"

"Wow you are loud aren't you?" Jace pulled a muzzle out and slipped it over Lebba's nose.

"Ha! It sucks doesn't it?" Grace laughed.

"Alright." Jace walked around the sled, taking his place. "Show me what you've got girls! Mush!"

Fang and the other dogs started to run forward. Grace locked her legs and stayed put.

The other dogs stopped trying to run.

"Wolf!" Jace stormed over and pulled Grace aside. "You will learn some manners." he picked a stick up off the ground and raised it above his head.

Grace readied herself to be hit, but Lebba had other plans.

The assassin squirmed out of the muzzle and jumped over the running line, biting the man's arm.

Jace swung at the wolf on his arm, she let go and pushed Grace. "Run when I tell you to." Lebba said while jumping the stick.

"Huh?" Grace twisted out of the man's grip.

"Now!" Lebba spun around and the running line snapped, releasing the dogs.

Grace took her opertunity and started to run off, but suddenly felt herself jerked backwards. Scrambling up she spotted a single cable running from her harness to Lebba's.

"Lebba." Grace growled. She rushed forward. "We are tied together!"

"You've got to be joking." Lebba looked at the line, giving Jace enough time to pull a handgun out.

Grace didn't know her guns, but she knew that one gun was just the same as anyother, a death sentance. She had never attacked a human, but if Lebba died, there went Grace's chances for escape. The heavier brown wolf slammed against Jace, pushed him to the ground, and broke off into a run, Lebba close behind.

**Central Park**

Bluea lifted her head off her paws and gave the lead penguin a quizzical look.

"What's the otter doing here?" she snapped.

"Marlene wanted to come and-"

"And you couldn't say no to those pretty green eyes could you?" Bluea's natural distrust of others could have been genetic. Or it could have been anti-social disorder.

"I'm Marlene, you must be Bluea, I love your-"

Bluea rolled her eyes, "Right. My mother, everything is about my mother, 'Oh Bluea be more like Grace' 'Grace this and Grace that' 'Grace, Grace, GraceGraceGrace."

"Bluea. Have you been able to get a track on Grace. or Lebba." Skipper cut in.

"Yeah, if your little patsy can keep up we'll take the back way in." Bluea swept around and started to walk away.

"I can keep up." Marlene snapped.

"I was talking to you." Bluea smiled.

A few minutes later, Bluea stopped outside a high chainlink fence. "I followed their scent to here, talked to some locals and found out that a man matching the description of our wolf-napper, loaded 3 cages onto a plane. 2 of the dogs were argueing by the sounds of it, I'd say it's Grace and Lebba."

"Ok, where were they headed?" Skipper asked.

"Canada."

"No. Really where were they going?"

Bluea returned his glare. "Do I look like I'm joking?"

"Alright, over we go." Skipper started to climb the fence.

"What are you doing?" Bluea asked when Skipper landed on the other side.

"I don't know about you but I'm going to save my kinda-sorta-fiance."

Bluea slipped under the fence, Marlene followed.

"Should we be here?" Marlene asked quietly.

"No, so keep low." Skipper demanded.

Bluea suddenly stepped into the shadows, "Shh. It's the guys."

Two men walked past the trio. The first pointed to a plane. "That's the one."

"How long do you think they'll last?" the second man asked.

A phone began ringing, the first man answered it after a breif conversation, he hung up.

"The wolves got lose. By the sound of it, they took a whole team with them."

"The wolves? Like the ones picked up at Central Park?"

The first man nodded. "Jace says he's calling in a hunter. They are worth more dead than alive and he can't risk them getting ahold of a good dog."

"Well, Let's get on up there." the second man started to walk towards the plane.

Skipper didn't see Bluea move but the next thing he knew, she was jumping into the plane's cargo hold.

"She's got her mother's spirit I'll give her that." Marlene sighed.

"Not at that age." Skipper waited until the humans had gone back inside before starting towards the plane.

The humans brought out a couple of boxes and loaded them on the plane.

"Oh, and one more thing before I forget." The first man said.

A gunshot followed immediatly. Marlene yelped and stumbled backwards. Bluea glared at the otter. "Shut up. If they find us they'll kill us too."

The door to the storage closed and a few minutes later the plane was in the air.

**_Canada_**

The snow slowed Lebba and Grace down considerably, but once they hit the forest it was easy to lose Jace.

Panting, Lebba stopped running, "I think *pant* We lost *pant* him."

Grace looked between Lebba and the trail they had left. "We should keep- keep going. Put as much distance- between us and him as possible."

The brown wolf turned and kept going.

"I think it's getting dark." Lebba had finally caught her breath.

"Scared?" Grace tilted her head.

"Scared? Moi? Psh, I'm the scariest thing out here." Lebba tossed her head into the air and began prancing.

"Well, watch your step. There's probably snares set." Grace lowered her head and tried to not siink in the snow.

A far off sound startled both wolves. It was somewhere between a moan and a scream.

"Please tell me that's your stomach, Kvela." Lebba whined.

"Nope. It was a wolf. Maybe two."

"How do you know?"

The wolf looked at Lebba, "Are you that stupid? Honestly?"

"Well, I read somewhere the moutain lions scream like that." Lebba moved closer to Grace.

"Alright, Let's test your theory." Grace pointed her nose at the sky and howled.

"Will you stop that?" Lebba pounced on Grace.

A howl was returned to Grace's. Then 2 more chimed in.

"Three wolves. Let's go!" Grace jumped up and started to trot through the snow.

Lebba didn't run as fast as Grace on purpose. In truth, the assassin was slightly afraid of the wild wolves, everything Dr. Blowhole had told her about them made her worry. Would they really kill her and not think anything about it?

Grace stopped running. "What's wrong now?" she groaned.

"Nothing." Lebba snapped. "Why do you even care? All I want is to be far away from you so I can go back to boss and tell him I need to regroup."

Grace sighed, "Good to know."

"Who are you?"

The would-be sled wolves turned to face the voice. 3 wolves stood under a tree.

"I'll ask again, but then we're attacking. Who the hell are you?" the sand colored female growled.

**There it is! Remember to review! 3 Adrian!**


	4. The Pack

**I've had the flu for the past 3 days. And I gave it to my friend because he was attempting to help me feel better...Am I a great friend or what? Actually I think he only keeps me around because he knows I keep him safe from the alligator snapping turtles. Long story.**

"I won't ask again." the sand colored wolf growled.

"Attack us. I dare you. Kvela and I can take you." Lebba caught herself growling. 

"Lebba" Grace hissed. 

"Kvela? That's a odd name." the grey wolf tilted his head. 

"Listen, we don't want trouble." Grace sighed. 

"Then why are you here?" the female growled. 

Grace looked at Lebba and then back at the wild wolves. "Ok, you win" and she began to relate everything she and Lebba had been through.

On the plane, the rescue squad was fast asleep. Bluea was quietly dreaming, Marlene curled up beside her. Skipper, on the other hand, was deep in the middle of a nightmare, surrounded by the monsters of his past.

_Grace was standing next to him, she smelled faintly of black powder, something was wrong. The wolf wouldn't look at him._

_"Grace?" Skipper put his flipper on her shoulder, the wolf stumbled back like he had hit her as hard as he could. She shook her head and looked up at him, every time she blinked her eyes grew a darker shade of blue. Everything around them started to swirl and in a flash of light they were standing on a roof. Skipper looked for any identifying marks to tell where he was. Finding none he turned back to Grace. Something seemed to scare her because she turned and ran. Skipper watched Grace slowly disappear into the fog_

_"Grace!" Skipper yelled after her. _

_A wolf of similar color to Grace suddenly appeared, "Let her go." the new wolf had an accent that the penguin couldn't place. _

_"Who are you?" he took a step towards the wolf. "Are you Grace's conscious?"  
><em> 

_"Hardly." the wolf shook his head. There was something almost proud about him, but also something broken, an old hurt to him. "Hawk couldn't protect her. Promise me you will."  
><em> 

_"Hawk?" Skipper gave the wolf a puzzled look. "Oh, you're Grace's- " _

_The wolf dropped his head like he was picking something up and started to walk away.  
><em> 

_"Where the hell are you going?" Skipper started to chase the wolf. "Why did you-"  
><em> 

_The wolf was gone. No trace of him remained.  
><em> 

_"Grace? Grace? Grace!" Skipper began to panic, he couldn't see her  
><em> 

"Skipper! Wake up it's just a dream!" Marlene shook Skipper awake. 

"Bad dream?" Bluea smiled. 

"I guess you could call it that." Skipper rubbed his head. 

"What happened?" Marlene asked. 

"I'm not sure. But I think I just saw Grace's dad." 

The wolf called Slash led the way to an old tree with a hole at the base. "It's probably not like the caves in New York, but it's still home." 

"Are you kidding? I've spent the last 3 years in a concrete box. This is fantastic!" Grace couldn't tell if Lebba was joking or serious. 

"It's an abandoned bear den, we cleaned it up and dug deeper and further back to make it warmer." the sand colored wolf smiled, proud of herself. 

The dirt floor and dark atmosphere reminded Grace of the penguins HQ, for some odd reason. "So, you know our names, what's yours?" 

"I'm Sand." the female laid down. 

"Slash." the grey wolf answered, " and that's Dartte," Slash motioned to a black wolf laying in the corner, "He doesn't talk much, but he can hunt really really well." 

"Speaking of food, what do you have to eat? I'm starving." Lebba wagged her tail. 

"You're always hungry." Grace said hesitantly. 

"Yeah. So? You obviously eat a lot too." 

Grace glared at Lebba and grumbled. 

"Are you two sure you aren't sisters?" Sand tilted her head. 

"Yes," Grace and Lebba said in unison. 

The three wolves looked between themselves and laughed. "Then you must be pretty close back at the zoo. Pack?" Sand seemed genuinly intrigued by the new wolves. 

"Err." Grace looked to Lebba asking permission to tell. 

"Kvela and I come from rival-uhhm- packs?" 

"So do we!" Slash smiled "Our parents hated each other and we hated them. So we ran off and formed a pack." 

Lebba sighed, "I wish I could've run from my foster dad. He can be a giant jerk." 

"What about your parents?" Slash looked at Grace, something about him reminded her of Private. 

Grace began to think of a thousand things to say, she could lie and say she ran away or she could say that she didn't hate them for giving her away but would that still be a lie? _I don't hate them. But I certainly don't love them_. "They were parents." was all she could bring herself to say. 

Lebba quickly changed the subject "So, what about that food?" 

Slash and Sand smiled at each other, "Bats." 

"No thanks." Grace shook her head. 

"What? Why not? Food is food." Lebba growled. 

"The same reason I don't play lizard toss. I'd rather not think about eating someone I know." Grace put her head down on her paws. 

"They are brainless-" Sand began. 

"I know a bat that could easily contradict that statement." Grace pinned her ears back, she was annoyed that Sand would be so quick to judge someone. _Almost like someone else I know._

"I was talking about lizards." Sand sighed. 

"Either way. It doesn't matter. Do not question the intelligence of another species until you actually meet one." Grace stood up, "Come on Lebba, we're leaving." 

"She's trying to bridge the inter-species gap." Lebba grinned.

"Lebba!" Grace demanded.

Lebba didn't argue with Grace. In fact, both wolves were hungry, but neither would admit it to the other. After a few minutes of walking in absolute silence Lebba got the nerve to start talking. "Do you really know an intelligent bat?" 

Grace sighed and nodded. "I don't like to talk about it, let's just say that I'm not all butterflies and roses." 

Lebba laughed. "You're telling me. I've been the one trying to kill you for the past year." 

Grace looked back at the ground. She was done talking to Lebba. 

Meanwhile... Romulus Grey was finishing his trap. A wire cable was concealed beside a log. "Those wolves will come walking along, step over the log and snap" he looked to Jace. "They certainly won't expect it." 

"You think they'll even come through here?" 

"They'll get hungry enough. They'll do anything." Romulus looked back at his trap and smiled, this was his big break, two wolves and a pay check of 250 a piece. almost to good to be true. "Now where's that dog of yours?"

Jace unclipped Fang's leash, "Go get those wolves."

Fang put his nose to the ground, he found the trail and started to follow it. "Damn wolves, ruining my team, I'll make sure you never get back to that city or those penguins." 

Grace flicked her ears. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Lebba asked.

"I heard a voice."

"Maybe you're just hearing things. I didn't hear anything."

The wind picked up. Grace took a few deep breaths. "Fang?"

**So... What's going to happen next? Any guesses?**


	5. The Battle of the Tree

**Sorry it's taken so long, I lost the will to live for a few weeks. As you can see, I changed my pen name, it's part of something my counseler told me. It's also part of an amazing song, that I want to put in a story... Hmmm...**

Romulus and Jace followed Fang to the top of the hill. For a few breif seconds, the wolves just looked at the dog and humans.

Lebba noticed Grace's confusion and made a suggestion. "Come on Kvel. We can totally kick his tail."

Grace shook her head. "It's not Fang I'm worried about." She grabbed Lebba by her harness and drug her to the cover of the trees.

"What are you doing you psychotic mutt?" Lebba pulled away from Grace.

Fang growled and bounded off the hill after the wolves.

Lebba stood her ground, ready to fight Fang. "Geez, Kvela, you act like your scared of one little dog."

"I know we can fight Fang. It's the humans I'm worried about."

The red husky appeared in front of the wolves. "Oh tisk tisk. Here I thought you gals were smarter than this. Jus' rollin over and takin one for the team? I hope y'all know I can track you anywhere you go."

Grace slammed against Fang, sending him crashing to the ground. Then the smaller wolf took off, half dragging Lebba behind her.

"Kvela! Kvela! KVELA!" Lebba snapped. "He's not behind us. It's ok."

Grace stopped. She was panting heavily, "But- We- need to-" she stopped talking in order to catch her breath.

"No," Lebba shook her head, "They won't follow us. We aren't worth it." She stepped up on a downed tree. " For once, trust me.

"But-"

Lebba suddenly yelped. She was tossed into the air. Pulling Grace off the ground with her. Then Grace was flung back to the ground, she

"I hate you." Grace muttered. "Like with a deep burning sensation. HATE you."

"Get me down!" the wolf in then air growled.

"Mmm. Maybe"

Fang leaped over the log, growling. "I'll kill you, you bitch!"

"Uh, Kvela?" Lebba sounded panicked

Grace jumped forward, sinking in the snow. Grace pushed Fang and raced to the base of the tree.

Fang scrambled to keep his balence, he shook his head.

Grace ran into the base of the tree. She stumbled back. "What the fuck? Who put that damned tree right there?"

"I'm doomed." Lebba sighed. "And hungry."

That gave Grace her idea. She climbed onto the lowest branch of the tree. The needles bothered her feet more than the snow.

"Havin' fun there?" Fang growled.

Grace pulled herself up on the next branch. Fang jumped after her.

2 more branches. Grace jumped again, Fang caught her.

The branch broke under the combined weight of three canines. Grace landed first, she stumbled halfway to her feet before the branch came crashing down.

**_Skipper_**

The plane had landed about an hour ago, Skipper and Bluea were both poised to attack. When nothing happened, the penguin cautiously opened the door.

Night air greeted them.

"Damn. I hate the cold." Bluea grumbled.

"Bluea! Watch your mouth. What would your mother think?" Marlene put her paws on her hips.

Skipper and Bluea looked at each other, then back to Marlene. "I don't know for certain but probably something along the lines of 'Holy shit my kid is cussing already. Damn I'ma good parent.' But I'm just guessing."

"And for some reason- I'm not surprised?" Marlene shook her head, "I can guarentee that I wouldn't go to Grace for parental advice."

"Well, what do you expect Marlene? Grace didn't learn from her mother like you or any other female did." Skipper jumped out of the plane.

Bluea followed. "I'll get you two up a tree and go around to get information."

"No-can-do sister" Skipper said defiantly. "What makes you think you're going alone?"

"Because I blend in. A penguin in Canada? That's just not natural."

Skipper raised an eyebrow, "Nice choice of words. But- little miss hard headedness- I have seniority."

Bluea sighed, and rolled her eyes. "Ok, I see what you mean."

"So, Marlene and Bluea you girls take-" Skipper was cut off.

Bluea smiled defiantly, "How's that for hard headedness?"

"Did you just headbutt him?"

"Oh come on sweetheart, it's not like your man-toy is dead." Bluea dragged Skipper towards the fence.

20 minutes later, Marlene and Skipper were safetly up a tree.

Skipper was just starting to regain consciousness, "Stupid wolf." he rubbed his head.

"If you pass out again it's me vs. Grace and, in all honesty, she could probably swallow me." Marlene warned.

"I doubt she'd really hurt you. I think she thinks highly of you." Skipper shrugged.

"HA! She has never given me a reason to think she doesn't want to kill me. Why would you say that?"

"Because, we have similar opinions on most subjects."

"Really?" Marlene slid a little closer to Skipper, "And what exactly IS you're opinion of me?"

"Well, you know... Uhm... You're a good friend... Like Kowalski."

Marlene felt her expression sink with her heart. _Moment ruined by comando rambling. Again._ "What does Kowalski think of you and Grace?"

"Well, I don't know, he's on the 'verge of a scientific breakthrough' as always."

"He's your best friend and you haven't talked to him? Skipper he loved Grace! You can't just-"

"Don't say that word so loud. Someone might hear you!"

"Fine. I'll be quiet. But only because I'm right and you know it." Marlene climbed a few more branches higher and leaned against the tree trunk.

Skipper thought she had fallen asleep until her heard her take a deep breath.

"I did ask him."

"Huh?" Marlene peered over the edge of the branch.

"Kowalski. I asked him, back when he and Grace were first fighting, I asked if he would be mad if Grace and I hung out, he said no that he thought of Grace as fair game and-"

"I'll just be blunt. Do you want to get married or not?" Marlene disappeared from his line of sight.

"That's- Why- Would there-"

"It's ok to be scared." Marlene smiled to herself.

Her response was a simple, "Hmpf."

**Again, sorry it took so long, I was a little 'tied up'. Remember to review! **


	6. The Assassin's Teacher

Grace's mind had far from slowed down as she was forcing herself to wake up. The first thing that came into focus was Lebba and her half smirk.

"morning sunshine." the wolf's voice was ragged, like she was loosing it. "I was wondering when you would come to. But you know how it is."

"where's Fang?" Grace closed her eyes again.

"I don't know but he was pretty surprised when you killed his master. Extreme cheep shot by the way."

Grace locked eyes with Lebba. "Whe- When- I- I- I"

"You killed Jace." Lebba tilted her head. "don't you remember?"

In all truth, Grace had been having memory lapses since- 'Akela... No, not now Grace, he would laugh at you' She knew she should have seen a doctor but they were never bad, until now that is. Mostly they occurred during training, or anytime she got hurt in any way. She usually felt the pain, then blacked out, but this time, had she felt anything? What had even hurt her? Fang? Possibly. The branch? Unlikely, but entirely possible.

"no, sorry. I don't. Care to fill me in?" Grace's stomach growled.

"after food." Lebba smiled, "I know just where to go. There's shelter and food. We need to get some rest for tonight. That hunter knows not to fuck with us!" the wolf was wagging her tail in an exaggerated sweeping motion.

"Uhhm. Lebba?" Grace looked at the building in front of her. "I can't steal a chicken from here, this is some humans way to survive."

"and it's our way of getting home alive. We can't hunt wild game tied together, Kvela."

Grace was growing accustomed to her birth name by now and it was a second nature to respond to it.

"but-"

"No if or ands, Kvel. If you like dark meat then suit yourself but I'm going in there."

The reddish wolf vanished into the chicken coop. Grace prepared for the noise of the chickens or a farmer to come and wave a shot gun over his head yelling like farmers do when their livestock is being picked over. It never came.

Grace opened her eyes.

"Wha arff ou oing?" Lebba held a large hen by the neck, it's limp body hung from her mouth.

"How did you do that?"

Lebba shrugged, then led Grace into town, through the alleyways and around to the back of a building. "Under here." she set the hen down and pushed a metal grate aside, revealing some sort of furnace room.

Grace looked at Lebba and jumped down into the room, it was warm and the furnace gave off a faint red orange light casting long shadows across the room. Lebba sighed, "see? I'm resourceful."

Grace laid down, "What does that mean?"

"You have always had things given to you, you never had to work to earn your food." Lebba quickly covered her tracks, "no offense."

"My parents abandoned me, I was raised by ACIS agents, any laziness was literally pummeled out of me. You wouldn't last very long being famous. No offense." Grace knew that there was offense taken but it wasn't worth the fight.

Lebba stretched out on the floor, "Well, If you put it that way. I'll just take your word for it. Let's eat."

Grace looked at the dead bird and her mind was once again running a thousand miles a minute. Hunger won out though, and the wolf forced herself to give into the instinct she had fought for 5 years to get under control.

"It will be dark soon." Skipper noted. "Bluea should be back by now."

"I'm sure she's fine." Marlene breathed.

"My gut says something's wrong with Grace. I hope she's not hurt."

Marlene put her paw against Skipper's wing. "She'll be ok. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

"It won't be broken. That's a fact."

Skipper looked up into Marlene's eyes, he wasn't sure she was right.

"Are you two lovers done up there?" Bluea called up to them. "I found us a place to stay tonight."

Skipper studied the wolves Bluea had returned with. A sand colored female, a gray male, and a scraggly black male.

"Bluea?" the female sighed, "we are wasting time."

"Just a minute,Sand. Come on, they have a den."

"I just want to find Grace, who knows what Lebba's done to her." Skipper shook his head

"Did you say Lebba?" the gray wolf spoke up, "Is she a big reddish grayish and blackish wolf?"

"Yes. Why?" Marlene asked.

"She was at our den! Her and another wolf."

"Slash!" the wolf called Sand snapped, "Shut up you idiot! We told her we wouldn't say anything about them to anyone!"

"But-"

"What was the other wolf's name?"Skipper felt his heart leap.

"Uhm." Sand looked around at her pack, "I don't remember, Bella? Maybe?"

The penguins heart sunk, that was it. Lebba had killed Grace.

The black wolf stepped up, "I think her name was Kvela."

"That's Grace!" Marlene squealed. "I told you she'd be ok!"

"Actually, the crows say that they went towards Stone Creek, and a few hours ago there were some gunshots and some crows sounded the alarm. Something up there is dead."

"Grace?" Bluea asked cautiously.

"I'll find out." the black wolf trotted into the woods.

Skipper held his breath until the black wolf returned. "No, it's not an animal. It's a human. The crow says that a brown wolf attacked the man and killed him. She apparently got away unhurt but the tri-colored wolf wasn't looking very good."

"It can't be Grace then. She wouldn't hurt a human ever." Marlene wanted to cry. "I guess she wasn't-"

"No, Grace isn't dead. The crows would know if she was. Right?"

Sand shrugged, "I suppose, but let's get you guys back to the den and wait until morning. We can't do anything until then because the temperature drops to 40 below."

Grace licked her nose, the chicken was gone, and the only evidence of their crime was a small pile of feathers and the bones that were to big to be crushed easily.

"So, how did you learn how to kill without making a sound?" Grace braved to ask.

"Mikkel. He taught me a lot of things. Like fishing, and hunting, how to find fresh water, and things a dad would teach a daughter."

"You must have been pretty close." Grace felt bad for Lebba , losing her mentor and friend.

"Naw, we had the kind of relationship that you and Sarge had. We hated each other, but at the same time, relied so heavily on each other that it didn't matter."

"I guess I never thought of that." Grace looked away, trying to remember the last time she had talked to Akela before he died. She assumed it had been something pretty rude.

"You ok, Kvela?" "Huh? Oh. Uhm yeah, I'm fine, just worried about Fang coming after us is all."

"We could keep watch. Take turns. Switch every 2 hours?"

"Sure. I'll take the first watch. You need some sleep."

Lebba yawned, "no problem. 2 hours."

Grace nodded.


	7. The Revenge of Fang

**Third Chapter of the week!**

Fang paced up and down the aisles. Announcing the death of the sled master, several of the male huskies were furious.

"I knew they were bad news!"

"Never trust a wolf!"

"what are we gonna do Fang?"

"I'll tell you what we are gonna do! We are going to track them down and murder them! Whose with me?" Fang yelled. Most of the male huskies bayed in agreement.

With the exception of one. Fang's brother, a smaller more agile husky with one blue eye and one brown eye, the humans called Ginger. Or more commonly, Gin.

"This won't be good." he sighed.

"Gin, you in or are you dead?" Fang growled.

"No. Jace deserved what happened to him. He was a-"

Fang ripped through the fence, "I'll kill you, you bastard!"

Gin simply stepped aside and jumped through he hope in the fence and took off at a dead run. Fang was a lead dog built as a wheel dog, and Gin was a runner built perfectly for his job.

"Lef him go." Fang growled. "that simpleton won't make it very far."

If Fang could have seen the future he would have allowed his team to kill his brother on the spot.

Fang began to lead his team towards Stone Creek.

Dart woke Bluea up.

"What's wrong?" the younger wolf stuttered, when she saw the night sky, still lit up with stars.

"Someone's coming." the wolf whined.

Suddenly, growling could be heard outside, "Come out, wolves. We have you surrounded."

"Who is that?" Skipper asked, waking up.

"Fang, the lead dog of the man Kvela killed's team." Sand answered.

"He tried to have relations with Sand. She shot him down." Slash giggled.

Sand glared at him. "Can it, Biscuits." She growled.

Slash yelped.

"One, Two,"

Sand burst from the den and started attacking someone.

"I'm going out." Skipper jumped up. "Slash, cover me."

Both the penguin and the wolf leapt out. Bluea started to follow them but Dart stopped her. "No, you can't leave Marlene."

Bluea growled and walked past him.

Outside, the Stone Creek Pack was struggling to hold its own. The huskies outnumbered the 5 wolves and a penguin 3 to 1.

Bluea tackled a black and white dog away from Sand.

"Thanks." the female stood up and stood next to Bluea.

Bluea spotted a red husky, he was away from the others and was growling low. His one good eye studying the fight.

Skipper realized Bluea's plan just seconds too late. The sleek black wolf shoved into the husky and both hit the snow.

"Bluea!" Skipper attempted to get over to her, but a dog jumped in front of him.

Bluea was soon under Fang's grip. The husky's teeth were tangled in her fur.

The wolf fought back and managed to twist away from him. She knew she had underestimated this husky, up close she could see old scars covered his head and neck.

Fang noticed the black she-wolf's eyes. They were a bright aqua blue, like the wolf with the attitude. Kvela was it? Could this wolf be her daughter?

"Fall back boys!" Fang growled, the huskies gave each other puzzled looks but retreated anyways.

"What was that?" Bluea asked.

"He seemed to realize something when he looked at you, Bluea." Dart pointed out.

"Bluea. You said that you were Grace's daughter right?" Marlene asked, appearing from the den.

"Yea, I don't see what that has to do with anything"

"Isn't it a bit odd that Fang made eye contact, then came to some sort of conclusion?" Sand added.

"No, It isn't. Lot's of people say I have my mother's eyes." Bluea said calmly.

"And I'm sure that's true" Sand continued, "I'm just saying that, maybe-"

Bluea pressed her nose against Sand's and growled, "Are you calling me a liar?"

"N-N-No, I-I-"

"What Sand means is that sometimes adoption is nessacary for a wolf, in your mother's line of work, to have children." Slash cut in. "Just to keep them safe. Heredity is a bitch and villians can spot similarities between offspring and parents."

Bluea growled and flattened her ears, "You don't know anything about her!" her breath was forming a cloud in the freezing, night air

"Bluea." Skipper stepped between the wolves, "I don't want to believe it either- but it does make sense. Grace-"

She backed away, "You are all liars and sorely mistaken if you think she would have put me up for adoption."

Marlene sighed, "I don't think she would either, Bluea. Let's just go find her."

Bluea looked in the direction the huskies had run.

**_Grace_**

Grace flicked her ears slightly, "Lebba?"

"Yeah?" the tri-colored wolf moved around.

"Do you think Fang will bring his teams after us?"

"No, I think he's too scared. He saw what happened. And besides, we are surrounded by civilization, he'd have to wait until we got out of town until he attacked us."

"Ok."

A few minutes passed before Grace put her head on her paws and began to fall asleep slowly.

_Lightning flashed. Fang was standing over her. "Fight me bitch!" he yelled._

_Grace tried to push him off. Lighting flashed again. Bluea raced over, "Mom!"_

_Fang targeted Bluea and abandoned Grace._

_"No!" Grace yelped, trying to catch Fang. The red husky was faster and tackled the small black wolf. _

_Grace slid to a stop as Fang, Bluea and the storm faded to a dense fog._

_A male voice suddenly spoke up, "It's a terrible thing. Losing a child."_

_A light brown wolf paced the floor of a cave, his pale colored mate was laying on the ground next to him._

_"I'm so sorry, Jorinde." the male whined._

_The female didn't answer, she just kept whimpering._

_"I wish I could have been here to help-"_

_"You just watch your back Aatu!" Jorinde stood up, "If you weren't so caught up with that job of yours then maybe-"_

_Aatu backed away, "If it weren't for my job we would have lost all the puppies!"_

_Jorinde caught her breath and growled, a small whimpering caught her attention, Grace followed her into the corner of the cave. Two puppies were curled up sleeping. One puppy, a light brown female was the source of the sound. "Shhh." Jorinde tried to comfort the puppy._

"Kvela!" Lebba bit Grace's ear.

"Ow?" Grace snapped awake, "What?"

"You make weird noises while you sleep. Like a puppy." Lebba glared at her.

"It's called dreaming, have you ever taken part in that?"

"Don't judge people. It's not ok." Lebba laughed slightly.

Grace surpressed her laugh, and just smiled. _Maybe, Lebba's right _she thought.

**_Fang _**

"Let's get them, Fang." a black and white husky growled.

"Be paitent, Elis." Fang watched the black wolf and the penguin.

"What's your intrest in her?" Elis looked at the red husky.

"She is very interesting, did you happen to see her eyes?"

"Uhm, no sir. I don't believe I did."

"Perfect." Fang smiled, knowing his next move.


	8. The Last Wolf Standing

**Only 2 chapters left!**

The wolves awoke to the bright light reflecting off the fresh layer of snow and into their sleeping quarters.

"Well," Lebba yawned, "How's it feel?"

"huh?" Grace tilted her head.

"You have officially been missing for 24 hours. Your odds of being found alive were just cut in half."

"I am so glad you can see the positive side of this." Grace allowed her sarcastic nature to slide by unnoticed.

"I try." Lebba smiled and stood up slowly. "We'd better get a move on. There should be an airport around here somewhere."

Grace followed Lebba outside, their breath was just visible.

"I am so tired of cold." Grace sighed.

"I could get used to it. It's not as bad as you think." Lebba drug her front paws in the snow, causing a white powdery cloud to form. The wolf chuckled slightly.

"There is something not right with you." Grace pulled on the rope and Lebba followed.

"I'm just having fun is that a crime now?"

The word 'crime' made Grace a little depressed. It reminded her of ACIS and Skipper and that was just a tad too much to deal with at that time.

"Fun is overrated." Grace rolled her eyes.

"You do that a lot. Roll your eyes I mean."

"I don't think so."

"And your opinion is the only one that matters? That's so conceded."

"No," Grace spotted a small group of humans standing by a house. "What's going on over there?"

"Either someone's having a baby, getting married or dead." Lebba stopped walking and watched with Grace. A long wooden box was brought out and set in the back of a truck. "Funny." Lebba snickered.

"How is that in any way comical?" Grace gave her traveling companion a shocked look.

"No, I mean how humans don't want anything to do with one another until someone dies and they think they deserve something from that person. I'd bet a years salary that the poor sap in the box doesn't- or didn't know half the people there."

The more Grace thought about it, the more right Lebba was. "Isn't ACIS like that?" she ventured to ask.

"No, ACIS is more like, 'I don't want anything to do with you until someone needs to kill you' No offense but ACIS isn't really one of my more realistic dreams."

"A- ok. Yeah, I guess I'm guilty there, but are you really basing your opinion on-"

"Kvela. Let me ask you something for a change. When was the last time you went somewhere where they didn't know your name?"

Grace fell silent, "I guess it's been a while..."

"Animals think they know your whole story, wouldn't you like to, just for once, tell them they're wrong and walk away laughing?"

Grace was about to answer when a small red husky crashed into Lebba.

"What the hell is your- hey don't I know you?" Lebba caught herself.

The new husky had a similar color to Fang, but while Fang was big and powerful, this husky was slim and smaller built, he couldn't be much older than Bluea.

"Lebba! Kvela!" the red husky smiled, "I'm glad I found you before-"

Ellis tackled Ginger and both dogs rolled to the ground.

"I hope your final moments are miserable, you lying, thieving, traitor." the black and white husky growled, his teeth flashing white against Gin's red fur and blood.

Lebba hauled Ellis off Gin and stepped over the younger dog. "Touch him again and I'll soak the ground with your blood!"

Ellis chuckled, "I'd love to see you try princess."

Grace felt her mind flicker, she was on the edge of losing control like she had with Jace. 'Stay with them, Kvel' she told herself, 'Oh great, I'm calling myself that now.'

In the same amount of time it took Grace to pull herself into reality, Fang and Lebba were tumbling head over tail.

"Lebba!" Grace growled, "Get off the ground!"

Gin attacked Fang next. He grabbed the back of Fang's neck and tried to force him to the ground. The larger red husky just rolled over and slammed his younger sibling into the snow.

"I'll deal with you later!" he barked.

Gin whimpered a little and braced himself for the impact of all 100+ pounds of Fang, but Grace beat him to it.

When Fang was midway into his pounce. Grace caught him by the throat and pinned him against the ground. She was about to finish him off when someone called out to her.

"Grace! Let him go!"

At first, the voice didn't trigger her memory, so the wolf tightened her grip.

"Kvela!" Lebba pleaded.

Filled with blind anger, Grace just growled at Fang.

"Grace." the first voice said calmer now, "Let the dog go."

The brown wolf slowly released her grip.

"I know he's an awful dog, but you have to listen to me. Let him go."

Marlene's voice finally registered in the wolf's mind, and she let go of Fang.

The husky stood up quickly, "Big mistake." he bared his teeth. "Boys, finish them off."

Grace realized that the black and white husky (Ellis) had Skipper held against the ground. Looking around, she soon knew that to try to fight them was pointless, they would all be killed. But maybe-

"We need to kill Fang and Ellis. Maybe a few others, just to scare the hell out of them." Lebba whispered, backing against Grace.

The wolves were surrounded. Two huskies had Marlene trapped halfway up a tree, Ellis had Skipper, and Fang-

"Bluea!" Grace yelped she jumped forward,bringing Lebba alongside her. "Fang no! Don't hurt her! I'll do anything!"

One of the huskies caught Grace by the neck and put her on the ground, another one managed to ram into her rib age. Out of breath, Grace collapsed to the ground. She felt the hot trail of blood racing from her neck.

Lebba leapt over Grace and tackled the husky. He fell to the ground without a sound. The assassin growled, and the rest of the huskies picked up that Lebba could kill swiftly and silently, just what they were afraid of.

"The next one to disobey a direct order will die!" Fang roared. "Kill her!"

Lebba dodged the first attack and pounced on Ellis, taking him down.

That's when Grace noticed the rope. It lay in the snow beside Gin. The rope had snapped earlier in the battle, and Lebba had stayed beside Grace to help her.

Ellis's teeth ripped a good size chunk off Lebba's shoulder before Grace intervened and dug her own teeth deep into the black and white huskies skull. The kill wasn't as clean as Lebba's had been, but dead is dead when you are fighting the enemy.

Lebba tried to stand but realized her shoulder was more damaged then she had previously thought. "Kvela,"

The brown wolf pulled her attention back to her fallen comrade, catching a glimpse of the two huskies trying to climb the tree where Marlene was.

Sand, Slash and Dart were holding their own, but not gaining any ground, Skipper was making an attempt to lure Fang away from Bluea.

"Kvela," Lebba sighed, "Promise me, that you won let them remember me in a bad way,"

"What are you talking about?"

Lebba took a deep breath and threw herself at Fang.

The husky, caught by surprise struggled against the wolf. Soon, he had managed to gain the upper- paw and was practically dragging Lebba around by her ear. ( seriously this is how huskies fight, they grab each others ears and pull each other around, it's kind of funny. I have a friend that raises them)

Grace grabbed Bluea by the back of her neck and directed her over to Gin. "Stay!" she demanded.

In the same motion it took to jump into the circle of dogs around Marlene's tree, Grace threw one dog against the base of the tree, knocking him unconscious. Grace and Skipper backed away from the rest of the dogs.

"I'm sorry you got pulled into this Marlene." Skipper said, reaching the tree.

"It's ok. I wanted to come." the otter in the tree added

"Whatever happens, you stay in that tree do you hear me?" Grace answered.

A high pitched yelp filled the air. The huskies turned and looked at the scene. Ginger stood triumphantly over Fang. His teeth bared, the hair on his neck standing on end, and his ears flattened against his head.

The team of dogs closed in around Gin and their leader,

There were only 5 dogs left, Dart had managed to kill his attacker when the yelp distracted him.

Lebba laid on the edge of the circle, the snow turning a sickly red around her chest.

"You think it's funny to push others around!" Gin was growling loudly and his words were slurring together.

"Kill me brother. Make mother proud." Fang smiled sarcastically.

"Don't call me that! You're no brother to me."

"Then do it, coward!" Fang growled.

"No, a murder got you where you are now. A murder will not get you out."

"Mother's child. And here I thought you had it-"

Fang's last word was drowned out because the larger husky sprang off the ground and slammed into Marlene.

Without waiting, Grace lunged for Fang. Both canines had each other by the throat when the snare went off.

Fang was pulled into the air, Grace dropped to the ground. A steady dripping of blood began to stain the snow.

"Fang?" one of the huskies whimpered.

Grace felt relieved that Fang was finally dead, and the nightmare was finally going to end, until she looked around.

Marlene was on the ground, bleeding from her side just below her last rib. Skipper was kneeling next to her. Bluea and Gin stood behind him, and to Grace's far right, Lebba. The assassin was barely conscious, when she took a breath it was shaky and almost appeared forced.

Grace padded slowly over to Marlene. "Is she ok?"

"She's fine." Skipper nodded, "I think it's just a scratch, nothing major." The brown wolf looked towards Lebba. She wanted to stay by Marlene, but Lebba had saved Bluea's life, and the favor needed to be repaid.

The airport was around the corner and about 300 yards away. If they could make it there then maybe Grace could contact someone to come fly them out. She closed her eyes and hoped for the best.

"C'mon Lebba, stand up."


	9. The Way Home

**There's only 1 more chapter left and I have it typed already, so expect it to be up tomorrow. I think I had something important to say but I forgot it... so... hmmm... Oh well.**

The bright lights. The strange silence. The smell of antiseptic. A standard hospital, except it's design. The ACIS hospital was like every other building in the animal world. Instead of skyscrapers, they had the reverse, called hell-scrapers by most, the hospital was build completely underground. The entrance was a small opening in the face of a rock ledge, too small for humans to have any interest in.

Skipper paced the floor. Grace had her head resting against her paws, fighting sleep, but delusional from the pain medications. Manfredi leaned against the wall between Bluea and Gin.

Bluea was relaxed, but Gin was a nervous wreck. The husky watched Skipper intently, then would look to Mani and quickly at the floor.

Grace could hear the clock I the hall ticking. Click. Click. Click. She sighed and looked at Mani, the older penguin returned her look.

"Please go to sleep." his gruff voice split the silence and startled Bluea.

"ok." the brown wolf curled up and tried to force herself to sleep. After a few failed minutes, Manfredi waddled into the hallway and found a nurse. "She needs stronger medicine. She cant sleep and it's worrying me."

"The doctor will take a look at her as soon as he can, I promise Mani." the cat nurse smiled sweetly, "Do you need anything else?"

Manfredi began rambling off supplies, without even thinking. Then, he slipped back into the room. Bluea had dozed off, and Gin had his head resting on her neck, laying beside her.

"any news?" Skipper asked.

"Nope." Manfredi shook his head, "I wish Hawk was here for Grace."

Both penguins looked at the brown wolf, her blue eyes closed tightly.

"She'll be ok." Skipper nodded, "She's had worse."

Just then, the doctor walked in. He was an old ocelot, his spots had long faded into gray and his fur was a odd mixture of browns.

"Well?" both penguins said hopefully.

"The otter is fine, just a scratch. She's sleeping now."

"What about-" Grace picked her head up.

"The wolf? Ahh... She is slightly worse for wear. I thought we'd have to rebuild the muscle in her shoulder, but with a little tweaking, we stopped the bleeding, it'll leave a nasty scar though."

"Well, whatdayaknow. Grace and Lebba have something in common after all. Who knew."

Skipper winced at the thought of Grace killing someone without a sound or remorse. It almost made him want to murder Lebba himself.

Grace cleared her throat.

Mani and Skipper both looked at her expectantly.

"Skipper, can I see you in the hall?" she asked.

"Uhh-"

"Now." the wolf walked past him without waiting for a response.

The penguin followed and Grace ducked into a room.

"What's up? Why won't you talk to me?"

"I had a dream about-"

"Dreams are a natural occurance."

"Not like this one. I'm pretty sure that your dad was there."

"What do you mean 'was there'?"

"Like he talked to me." Skipper leaned against the wall, "I don't know why, but I think he wants me to keep you safe."

"Most fathers do."

"But the thing is- I can't keep you safe. I can't keep you out of danger. Denmark happened and it could happen again. What do I do if I lose you? For good this time?"

"I don't know, I guess you just pick up and move on like the rest of the world."

"That's- I cant do that. You are special and there isn't anyone that could replace you."

Just then Marlene walked into the room, "Hey, how long have I been out?"

Grace knew what was coming, she knew Skipper too well for that. "I agree." she forced herself to say.

"Huh? Oh." Skipper looked down embarrassed.

"I'm lost." Marlene looked between the wolf and the penguin.

"Don't worry, you'll catch up eventually." Grace felt her voice catch, but didn't let the others see it.

Skipper watched Grace leave, he was relived but at the same time terrified that she wouldn't ever be the same.

Secretly, Grace was ecstatic that Skipper was calling things off, she knew that he deserved someone better and more 'lady-like' than her. But at the same time, she wanted to disappear, to crawl under a blanket and sleep until the emptiness was gone. She had a new plan however, this time it only involved her. Only her.


	10. The Final Fight

**Last chapter! The song is 'Breath you in' by Thousand Foot Krutch. It's an awesome song, and I'm in love with it. The previous chapter was very depressing, this one is happier...**

-1 WEEK LATER-

Skipper and Marlene had both settled back into daily routine. Bluea and Gin stayed in California with Hawk and Lebba had run off with someone simply leaving a hastily written note 'So long bitches' scratched into the wall.

All in all, life was back to normal. Except for Grace. The once active wolf spent most of her time sleeping in the sun or cursing the humans for light pollution. To the other animals it was accepted, but the penguins ,or should I say Kowalski, knew differently.

"Kowalski!" Skipper slapped the other penguin.

"What?"

"Focus or go back to your lab!"

Kowalski looked down, "Sorry, I'm just-"

"Just go."

The intelligent penguin smiled and raced away.

"Why didn't Kowalski have to train with us, Skippa?" Private asked.

"He still thinks Grace is sick."

"Maybe we should-" Private looked to Rico.

"Nope. Those two need a little time." he shook his head and laughed.

Kowalski set a blueprint down in front of Grace. "I thought we could work on this for a while." he smiled.

"I don't know. What is it?"

"A re-invented time machine. The last one kind of uh- destroyed itself."

"and by that you mean?" Grace didn't seem fazed.

"It got sucked into a rip in the space-time continuum. Well,-"

"Rico?" The wolf sat next to the blueprint, and began studding it.

"Yeah," Kowalski rubbed the back of his neck with his flipper.

"Hmph" Grace smiled.

"Are you ok? As of lately you've been really disconnected. What's bothering you?"

"You do realize that you answered the first question but asked two so, therefore, they cancel each other out, correct?"

"Will you just answer the question?"

"Which one?" she laughed.

"You are terrible at this."

"That's not what your boyfriend thinks." she grumbled.

"Grace! Focus!" The penguin squealed.

Grace sighed, "Ok, I'll humor you. I want to meet my parents."

"Oh," Kowalski suddenly felt bad for pushing her towards saying it.

_Taking hold, breaking in; The pressures all need to circulate_

"Oh? That's all I get?" Grace looked away. "I knew I shouldn't have told you."

"No, I think it's a wonderful idea. But it's so far away, and are you sure?"

_Mesmerized and taken in  
>Moving slow, so it resonates<em>

"Yeah, I'd be gone for about 6 months, maybe more. I think I'm sure."

_It's time to rest, not to sleep away  
><em>

Kowalski sighed, "Well, I'll support whatever choice you make, but sometimes, the truth isn't worth knowing."

_My thoughts alone, try to complicate  
><em>"How would you know? You seem to always be right."

_I'll do my best, to seek you out  
>And be myself, and not impersonate<em>

"Ha!" Kowalski motioned to the blueprint, "Most of my inventions try to kill me."

_I tried so hard to not walk away  
>And when things don't go my way<br>I'll still carry on and on just the same  
><em>

"See? Thats why you should just leave the whole invention thing behind you. Focus on more real things."

"Reality is a bitch."

_I've always been strong  
>But can't make this happen<br>_

Grace looked around nervously, having Private around made her not want to curse. "So am I, what does it matter?"

_'Cause I need to breathe, I want to breathe you in  
><em>

"I like you a lot more than most of my inventions."

_The fear of becoming  
>I'm so tired of running<br>_

"And I don't try to kill you, that's some of it right?"

_'Cause I need to breathe, I want to breath you in  
>I want to breathe you in<br>_

"Yeah, I'd say that's majority of it as a matter of fact."

Grace smiled again, this time she had an idea, "Go with me."

_I'm going in, so cover me  
>Your compass will, help me turn the page<em>

"Excuse me?" Kowalski looked at Grace.

_The laughing stock, I'll never be  
>Because I won't let them take me<br>_"Go with me to Denmark. Help me find my parents."

"I'd love to, really, but-"

"Forget Skipper. Just do what you want for once." "I would but, I don't think it's a really well thought out plan."

"What's not well thought out about it?" Grace flicked her ears.

"Everything. What are you going to say when you find them. What if you don't find them? What if they're dead? What are you going to eat?"

"That's a lot of questions. Probably nothing. I probably won't. They probably are. And probably nothing."

"Uh..."

"That's your answers. You'd be content with that, but I am not." Grace looked down. "I guess I'll be going then."

_Took awhile to see all the love that's around me  
>Through the highs and lows there's a truth that I've known<br>And it's you_

"Why does it matter so much to you?" Kowalski was really concerned about Grace._  
>I've always been strong<br>But can't make this happen  
>'Cause I need to breathe, I want to breathe you in<em>

"Wouldn't you give anything to see your mom one more time? Just to tell her your alive?" Grace looked over her shoulder at Kowalski._  
>The fear of becoming<br>I'm so tired of running_

"You never met them you don't understand the feeling!" he snapped.

'_Cause I need to breathe, I want to breathe you in_

"Maybe I would if Hawk hadn't kept them from me for so long!"

_I want to breathe you in_

"It's not Hawk's fault, Grace!"

_I want to breathe you in_

"Yes it is! Who in their right mind takes a baby from it's mother!"

_I want to breathe you in_

"You obviously."

_I want to, I want to_

"What the hell does that mean, Kowalski!"

"I know about Bluea. You couldn't stand the thought of someone being better than you. So this whole thing was a lie!"

_I want to breathe you in_

"Why would you say that?"

_I want to breathe you in_

"DNA doesn't lie, Grace. People do."

_I want to breathe; I want to, I want to_

"You want to know the truth, Kowalski? Bluea's mother deserved what happened. Akela is the biological father-"

_Wanna breathe_

"And you don't want to tell her. Does that make you any better than Hawk?"

_I want to breathe you in_

"I think you'd better leave." Grace lowered her head.

"Grace, I-"

_I want to breathe you in_

"JUST GO AWAY!"_  
>I wanna breathe <em>

**... then get's sadder! **


End file.
